Month: July 2007

Armenia celebrates National Library Day

armradio.am
04.07.2007 16:16

On the occasion of the Day of RA National Library 27 employees of the
library were awarded diplomas. The National Library Day has been
celebrated in Armenia since 2000. Director of the Library David
Sargsyan said today `the cooperation between the Armenian National
Library and libraries of other states has gained new force during the
recent years, due to which it has become possible to provide more
comprehensive and complete information to readers.’

Stressing the importance of libraries, David Sargsyan noted that making
libraries more contemporary is a priority, since the previous model of
libraries does not work any more.

In October 2007 the National Library will celebrate its 175th
anniversary.

Washington Times, DC
July 4 2007

A question of identity

By Paul Belien
July 4, 2007

Ehsan Jami is a 22-year-old local councilor and member of the
socialist Labor Party (PvdA) in the Dutch town of Leidschendam. His
party, which belongs to the ruling government coalition in the
Netherlands, is eager to get rid of him because… he is a Muslim
apostate.

Thirteen years ago, Mr. Jami’s family moved from Iran to the
Netherlands. When he was a young boy, Mohammed was his "hero," Mr.
Jami said. But after reading the Koran he discovered that the prophet
was "a criminal," he recently told the Dutch paper Trouw: "If
Mohammed were alive today, he would be in the same league as Osama
bin Laden or Saddam Hussein… It was a deception to discover who
Mohammed truly is. My great admiration for him has turned into deep
contempt."

Early last month, Mr. Jami announced his intention to establish a
Committee for Ex-Muslims, which he will launch officially in
September at an international press conference. His initiative has
enraged Islamist fanatics, but also his own party, the PvdA. An
internal memo sent to PvdA congressmen and cabinet ministers, shows
that the party fears that Mr. Jami’s campaign will cause considerable
electoral damage among Muslim voters.

There are 1 million Muslims in the Netherlands. Most of them are
Moroccans and Turks. They make up the bulk of the 1.7 million
immigrants in the country, which has a population of 16.3 million
people. Many immigrants have been given Dutch nationality and the
right to vote. This has turned them into a power block that tipped
the balance in the local elections in March 2006 in favor of the
PvdA, a party very keen to cater for the immigrants’ demands. In
major Dutch cities where the PvdA is the largest party, such as
Amsterdam and Rotterdam, almost half the elected PvdA politicians are
Muslims.

In November’s general elections, however, the 1915 genocide of 1.5
million Armenians by the Turks suddenly became an election issue. The
PvdA leadership failed to deny that this genocide is a historic fact.
As a consequence the PvdA lost the Turkish vote. Virtually all Turks
refuse to acknowledge the Armenian genocide.

The PvdA is eager not to antagonize Muslim voters further.
Consequently, as soon as Ehsan Jami announced his plans to establish
a committee of former Muslims the party sent Eddy Terstall, a leftist
Dutch movie maker, to the young councilor to persuade him to consider
"the fact that his message could go down badly with the PvdA’s large
immigrant following." Indeed, the party leadership is convinced that
for other parties "it is much easier for such a committee to be set
up without compromise" because they have fewer Muslim voters.

Mr. Jami, however, refuses to renounce his plan, despite receiving
hate mail and threats from Islamists, but also from PvdA executives.
He also refuses to leave the PvdA, as Ayaan Hirsi Ali did in 2002.
The latter began her political career with the PvdA, but joined the
conservative VVD because the PvdA did not allow her to speak freely
about the emancipation of Islamic women. Last year, Ms. Hirsi Ali
fell out with the VVD as well and left the Netherlands for
Washington. Mr. Jami said he "wants to change the PvdA from the
inside." Mr. Terstall reproaches him for "exclusively surrounding
himself with whites."

The Dutch PvdA is not the only political party in Europe that is
careful not to "upset" Muslim radicals. In neighboring Belgium, too,
last month’s general elections showed how influential the immigrant
vote has become. Ergun Top, a Turkish-born Belgian politician who is
a local Christian-Democrat councilor in Antwerp (although he is a
Muslim), declared that if there ever were a war between Belgium and
Turkey, he would join the Turkish army and fight Belgium. His loyalty
obviously lies with his country of origin, as it does for the
majority of the immigrants who have become Belgian citizens in the
past decades.

Belgium has 10.5 million inhabitants, of whom 900,000 legal aliens
and 650,000 so-called new Belgians – foreigners who have acquired
Belgian nationality since 1980. About 500,000 Belgian inhabitants are
Muslims, mostly Moroccans and Turks. The foreigners have imported
their own domestic quarrels and hangups into Belgian politics. As in
the Netherlands, the 1915 Armenian genocide suddenly became a hot
topic in Belgium’s election debates. In order not to antagonize
Turkish voters both Johan Vande Lanotte, the leader of the Socialist
Party, and Yves Leterme, the leader of the Christian-Democrats,
refused to call the massacre of the 1.5 million Armenians a genocide.
Vande Lanotte said the Armenian issue is "extremely sensitive," while
Mr. Leterme told the Turkish newspaper Zaman that "international
experts disagree on the historical facts." Mr. Leterme, who won the
elections, is expected to become Belgium’s new prime minister later
this month.

As the Islamization of Western Europe continues it will probably not
be very long before politicians describe the Nazi genocide of the
Jews as an "extremely sensitive" issue on which "international
experts disagree." Some European schools are already leaving the
Holocaust out of their history lessons to avoid offending Muslim
pupils. These developments are inevitable in countries where the
political establishment is catering to a growing electorate of
radicals.

Ehsan Jami claims he is willing to "change things from the inside."
The immigrant vote, however, has already changed European democracies
from the inside, turning their politicians into appeasing weasels.
The only immigrants they are eager to get rid of are Muslim
apostates.

Paul Belien is editor of the Brussels Journal and an adjunct fellow
of the Hudson Institute.

ll/article?AID=/20070704/EDITORIAL/107040019

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 4 2007

Gang found to be linked to retired army officers

Nineteen members of the Patriotic Forces Union of Power Movement
Association (VKGB), taken into custody on Monday after an extensive
operation by the Anti-Organized Crime and Smuggling Department of the
Ankara Police, have been referred to court after their interrogation
at the police station on Tuesday.

The results of the investigation are likely to have heavy political
consequences, as the group, in addition to suggestions of involvement
in organized crime, seems to have planned and staged a number of
illegal acts during political demonstrations. Phone records of
conversations, recorded during a 14-month police operation that led
to Monday’s arrests, reveal curious links between the suspects and
former army members, as well as an opposition politician. Operation
Whirl started 14 months ago upon the orders of the Interior Ministry,
which, on the suspicion of corruption of the association’s accounts,
alerted the Ankara chief public prosecutor.

The police investigation, including wiring cellular phone lines
belonging to the group’s members, was initiated on an order from the
public prosecutor. Police in Ankara monitored every step the suspects
took during the past 14 months right up until Monday’s operation.

The suspects are also being accused of provoking the participants of
mass demonstrations, dubbed "republican rallies," held in the spring,
where hundreds of thousands protested the government. The claim is
based on information gathered from phone conversations under police
monitoring since the start of the investigation.

The investigators found that a senior administrator from the
Republican People’s Party (CHP) had sent YTL 600 for transportation
of those VKGB members going to republican rallies, a piece of
information obtained from phone conversation records.

The investigation found that the criminal network obtained its orders
from an individual code named "Number One," however the police was
not able to clarify the identity of the mysterious master. Number One
is mentioned in many of the phone conversations among the suspects,
with deep respect and apparent feelings of allegiance. None of the
suspects revealed the name of this person during their interrogation
yesterday.

Records of conversations between retired Gen. Hasan Kundakçý and head
of the VKGB’s Konya Branch Vehbi Þanlý also found their way into the
prosecutor’s file at the end of the investigation.

Phone records also prove that for the suspects, "funerals of martyred
soldiers are events that need to be participated in with enthusiasm."
Many other political rallies, including one where nut growers in the
Black Sea protested against Prime Minister Recep Tayyip Erdoðan in
2006, were visited by members of the group, phone records showed.

The investigation also revealed that a group the police had to stop
during the first republican rally, the only incident during the calm
and eventless demonstration, was none other than the VKGB.

The operation consisted of simultaneous raids in the capital, the
southern cities of Mersin and Anatolia, Ýstanbul, the central
Anatolian city of Konya, the northern city of Giresun, the
southwestern city of Muðla, the western city of Ýzmir and the
southeastern city of Diyarbakýr. VKGB President Taner Ünal and senior
administrators identified as Ahmet C., Vehbi Þ., Salih Zeki B., Yasin
A., Levent B., Mesut S., Ahmet K., Halit B., Savaþ K., Ýlhami D.,
Ahmet Y., Mehmet D., Mehmet B., Osman A., Mehmet Ali D., Mehmet E.
and Hüseyin T. were held during the operation.

The suspects are being charged with "founding an organization with
the intent of perpetrating a crime, leadership and membership in a
crime organization, pillaging, tender fraud, falsification of
documents, embezzlement, swindling, smuggling of historical items,
illegal collation of donations, financing the crime organization and
staging provocative acts aiming to undermine the independence of the
state; abolishing the Republic of Turkey or trying to prevent it from
functioning partially or completely."

Aimed to steal YTL 100,000 from martyr’s wife

In addition the suspects are being accused of 40 different crimes
including "an attempt to swindle YTL 100,000 from the wife of a major
who was martyred, shooting firearms at homes, businesses and
automobiles, kidnapping, torturing, wounding with a firearm,
provocative actions during martyrs’ funerals at various times and
threatening a newspaper correspondent in Diyarbakýr."

A large number and variety of weapons including a hand grenade, guns,
rifles, bullets, steel vests and gas masks were seized in the
operation in addition to official stamps belonging to state agencies,
historical arts items and a large number of fake IDs belonging to
press organizations, the military and the police were seized during
the operation. The police have not yet completed ballistic tests on
the guns and ammunition seized.

Meanwhile, officials said two of the suspects had earlier been
detained and arrested for kidnapping and collecting due check
payments. Police officials said they would file a criminal complaint
to the chief of staff based on findings from the investigation
proving that the suspects have links to certain retired army
officials.

Gangs formed by retired army officers, a relatively new phenomenon in
Turkey, were found to have connections to the Council of State
shooting in 1996, where a senior judge was killed. Recently, large
amounts of ammunition were found being stored in two homes in
Ýstanbul and Eskiþehir. During the investigation, two retired army
members with links to other crimes, including the Council of State
shooting and an attempted murder of the president of a human rights
group, were detained.

Lawyers of Hrant Dink, the Turkish-Armenian journalist slain by a
teenage gunman in January, claim that an organized crime gang with
links to the arms depot discoveries in Eskiþehir and Ýstanbul is
behind the murder.

04.07.2007

SEDAT GÜNEÇ ANKARA

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

Today’s Zaman, Turkey
July 4 2007

Police tell court no `big brother’ in Dink murder

An Ýstanbul court has decided to broaden the investigation into the
killing of journalist Hrant Dink to consider allegations of official
negligence in connection with the murder, something the slain
journalist’s lawyers say creates room for optimism.

However, an information note sent by the most senior police
authority, the National Security Directorate, to the court indicated
that it might yet be too early to express any optimism. The note,
written by police in response to a query from the court hearing,
asserted that Yasin Hayal, one of the chief suspects in the case, had
formed and led a criminal gang based on "friendship ties" to the
other suspects in order to stage an act directed against Dink.

The reply comes one day after Dink’s lawyers asserted that a much
bigger and organized group was behind the 18 suspects standing trial
with links to individuals in the police and gendarmerie forces.

The court had asked for information from the National Security
Directorate about a "terrorist organization" the suspects Erhan
Tuncel, Yasil Hayal, O.S. and others were allegedly assisting.

The police response stated that Hayal was the "leader" of the group
with authority to issue orders to all of the remaining members and
that he had no links to any other groups.

The police response also said the local police department in Trabzon
had used Tuncel as a "source of intelligence" but had cut all contact
with him in November 2006.

Eighteen young men charged with the assassination of the
journalist-cum-newspaper editor, gunned down in the street on Jan.
19, went on trial in Ýstanbul on Monday in what has been described as
a critical test for Turkey’s judiciary.

After a 12-hour hearing on the opening day of the trial, the court
released four of the 18 suspects implicated in the killing until the
resumption of the trial on Oct. 1.

The trial is taking place behind closed doors because O.S., the
17-year-old who confessed to shooting the journalist, is a minor.
Ultranationalists Erhan Tuncel, a university student, and Yasin
Hayal, who served time for the 2004 bombing of a McDonald’s, are
charged with planning the crime and for membership of an illegal
organization.

The defendants include a political figure, Yaþar Cihan, chairman of a
local branch of the ultranationalist Grand Unity Party (BBP), who is
accused of giving money to Hayal after the shooting.

Dink’s lawyers’ main concern is that the trial will not get to the
heart of the hate crime they say was well organized by a network of
ultranationalists in collaboration with individuals with access to
state power. Shortly after the killing, a video surfaced showing the
main suspect holding the Turkish flag, flanked by a police and
gendarmerie officer either side. Security officials were fired over
the incident.

Fethiye Çetin, a lawyer for the Dink family, held a press conference
on Tuesday and reiterated the claim that those standing trial as
suspects were not the real inciters of the Dink assassination. She
demanded that gendarmerie and police officials who were responsible
for negligence be included in the trial as suspects. Çetin
highlighted that in testimonies delivered before the court on Monday,
all suspects said "they were ordered by a group inside the police
department."

Referring to comments made by a lawyer representing Hayal praising
two former army officers, Çetin vowed they would go after the links
between the mentioned officers and the lawyer.

Hayal’s lawyer, Fuat Turgut, on Monday publicly praised Muzaffer
Tekin, a retired captain under arrest for possession of an arms depot
found in his residence, and also retired Maj. Fikret Emek, revealed
to be the owner of another house used to store guns and ammunition.
Hayal’s lawyer referred to the two former officers as "true
patriots." Tekin was a chief suspect in a Council of State attack
last year in which a judge was shot dead by a gunman apparently
opposing the court’s ruling on teachers’ rights to wear a headscarf
outside their school.

Speaking on behalf of her plaintiffs, Dink’s family, she said she
would object to the release of some of the suspects on Monday.

"This is why we have been demanding all along that the real inciters
–particularly those individuals inside the gendarmerie and the
police whose ties with the suspects have been confirmed, and who took
no measures against the Dink murder despite having had the
intelligence on its details — be brought to court on charges of
having allowed the crime to occur, either through negligence or
through involvement."

Çetin said she still had hope for a fair outcome since the court had
accepted their demand to widen the investigation.

Testimonies of the suspects

During the first day of the trial, O.S. exercised his legal right to
remain silent, said lawyer Çetin in a previous statement she made to
the press on Monday.

Four of the defendants, Erhan Tuncel, Yasin Hayal, Ersin Yolcu and
Ahmet Iskender, testified, and two others asked for lawyers before
speaking, she told press reporters outside the courthouse.

O.S. previously confessed to the killing in his initial testimony to
the police back in January, claiming he was angered by Dink’s
writings on Armenian history and came to Istanbul from his Black Sea
hometown of Trabzon to kill him.

Bahri Belen, a lawyer representing the Dink family, described the
latest development in the court case as being "significant," adding
his opinion that the court had agreed to extend the investigation
"thinking it might help the material truth to come out." Belen was
speaking to journalists on Monday at the courthouse shortly after the
hearing.

Belen also informed the press of the content of the suspects’
testimonies during the hearing. He said there were serious
inconsistencies in their versions of the events, with Tuncel saying
that he "did not have anything to do with the incident," while Hayal
asserted that "this incident was planned by Erhan Tuncel, who is a
police informant."

Hayal admitted his crime, self-critically accepting that he had been
used, the Cihan news agency reported him as saying.

Lawyer Turgut, representing Hayal, commented, "There is only one
fact, Yasin Hayal and O.S., who pulled the trigger, were exploited."
Turgut expressed that the two young men were "manipulated by some who
exploited their patriotic and nationalist feelings." In response to
the question of who might have used the two suspects, Turgut said:
"The same powers that used Erhan Tuncel. In my opinion, Tuncel was
protected at the time of the McDonald’s bombing." In response to
whether he was accusing the police department, Turgut said "no" but
added that those responsible could only be a couple of "rotten
apples" from the police. "If there is an element of organized crime
here, it should be seen as beginning with Tuncel and going higher
up," he said.

Meanwhile, a statement sent to the court by the Trabzon police said
that their department had ceased all contact with Tuncel in 2002.

Tuncel’s father, Ali Rýza Tuncel, speaking to members of the press at
the courthouse, said: "My son hasn’t done anything. My son warned the
necessary authorities, but the other side did not accept [his
warnings]. The state should not be blamed for any of this, either."

The nationalist lawyer also said BBP member Cihan’s prosecution was
an attempt to target Turkish nationalism and accused some 100 lawyers
working on behalf of Dink’s case of "defaming nationalism." He said
Cihan was a regular donator to the poor, and one of the families he
had helped happened to be that of Hayal.

The court requested video recordings made of protests against a
controversial conference held at Bilgi University last year, protests
in front of the Agos newspaper office after it had printed a news
story questioning the ethnicity of Atatürk’s daughter and coverage of
Monday’s protests in front of the courthouse where demonstrators
demanded justice for Hrant Dink, sources said.

The judges were reported to have demanded the identities of two
police officers who were present in the room with the Ýstanbul deputy
governor during a meeting with Hrant Dink, during which allegedly one
of the officials threatened Dink with having to face the consequences
if he was not more reserved in his coverage of Armenian genocide
claims.

The court accepted the demand of a lawyer representing O.S. to order
a full psychiatric examination for his client and ruled that eight
individuals, mentioned as "intelligence officers with the police" in
Tuncel’s testimony might be called as witnesses.

04.07.2007

E. BARIÞ ALTINTAÞ ÝSTANBUL

Armenian opposition canceled a rally to support Armenian service of
Radio Liberty planed on next Friday

arminfo
2007-07-04 14:48:00

Armenian opposition canceled a rally to support broadcast of the
Armenian service of Radio Liberty at
the territory of republic, planed on next Friday.

As press-secretary of People’s Party of Armenia, Ruzan Khachatrayn,
told ArmInfo correspondent, they made such a decision as yesterday the
parliament did not adopt the draft law on making amendments to the law
"On television and radio".

To recall, earlier the PPA, Republic party and Alternative movement
declared about holding of a joint rally on 6 July to demand not to stop
broadcast of Radio Liberty at the territory of Armenia.

Belfast Telegraph, United Kingdom
July 4 2007

Turkey on trial as suspects claim state collusion in writer’s killing

Wednesday, July 04, 2007
By Nouritza Mattosian and Daniel Howden

A small, sweltering courtroom in Istanbul has become the focal point
for an intense examination of Turkey’s democratic freedoms and the
independence of its judiciary.

On trial inside the room yesterday were 14 defendants accused of
involvement in the murder of the campaigning journalist Hrant Dink.
The doors will stay closed to the media, because the person accused
of pulling the trigger in a murder that shook Turkey is a 17-year-old
boy.

Outside, thousands gathered with banners proclaiming solidarity with
the dead Turkish-Armenian writer: "We are all still Hrant Dink"; "We
want to see justice done." Many Turks are convinced that a so-called
"deep state" – a network of state agents or former officials,
possibly with links to organised crime – periodically targets
reformists and other perceived enemies in the name of nationalism.

Yesterday, lawyers representing the Dink family called on the court
to broaden its investigation beyond the current suspects, all from
the northern Turkish city of Trabzon. Already, two of the key
suspects, Yasin Hayal and Erhan Tuncel, claimed they worked for the
security forces, while the alleged teenage gunman, Ogun Samast, has
remained silent during the trial.

To his supporters, Dink was a modern Turkish hero: "He symbolises
free speech," said one supporter. An Armenian orphan who had grown up
in the most deprived conditions, he endured racial discrimination and
fought for the dignity and rights of minorities. He used this
platform to campaign for entry into the EU, friendship between Turks
and Armenians, free speech and a free press. Dink became the target
of thousands of death threats, and was harassed by six charges under
the infamous Article 301 for "insulting Turkishness".

Mr Dink’s lawyers have claimed that senior officials, whose names
should have appeared in court papers, have been withheld and evidence
such as CCTV tapes of the killing have been removed. One of the
suspects, Erhan Tuncel, claimed in court that police intelligence
refused to respond to his warnings that the killing was being
planned: "They did not get in touch with me, saying they were busy."

The trial, which will be resumed in October after initial hearings,
takes place in the shadow of impending elections. The ruling AK party
of the Prime Minister, Recep Tayyip Erdogan, has been attacked by
liberals; and nationalists have attacked the government variously for
inertia in the Dink case, or for pandering to the Armenian minority.

In a moving appeal to the judge, Dink’s widow, Rakel, said: "You are
not of this darkness, please be brave enough to investigate fully so
that the end of the trial will mark a new enlightenment for Turkey. I
forgive those people, but I want the state to clear this case fully
for the future generations."

There was upheaval in court when Kemal Aytac, one of the defendant’s
lawyers, attacked the Dink family with nationalist insults and called
them "traitors". Mr Dink’s daughter, Baydzar, left the courtroom in
tears.

As Orhan Dink, Hrant’s brother, said in his testimony: "We, as the
family of Hrant, never will be winners or losers of this case. The
outcome of this case, instead, will prove whether Turkey will be the
winner or loser."

Dink saw his death coming

Hrant Dink was born in 1954 in south-east Turkey, the former
heartland of Turkish Armenia.

After graduating from university, he ran a bookshop with his
brothers. Then in 1996 he founded Agos (Ploughed Furrow), the weekly
magazine published in Armenian and Turkish, that made him famous.

He became a pivotal figure in Turkey, speaking out about democracy,
human rights and free speech as well as minority rights. But he
became deeply unpopular with Turkey’s so-called "deep state", the
secret alliance of ultra-nationalist bureaucrats, lawyers and
criminals, and his stubborn declarations of Turkish guilt for the
Armenian genocide resulted in frequent persecution.

In October 2005, he was given a six-month sentence for "insulting
Turkishness", a verdict he described as "a bad joke".

He saw his death coming. Days before his assassination he wrote: "For
me, 2007 is likely to be a hard year… Hundreds of threats via phone
calls, emails and letters are pouring down… It is obvious that
those wishing to single me out and render me weak and defenceless
have achieved their goal."

PanARMENIAN.Net

If European officials don’t want to encourage democracy in NKR, let
them not pose obstacles at least

04.07.2007 13:59 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ `It arouses regret that
representatives of the Council of Europe, the
organization, which is called to protect and propagate
the ideals and principles of pluralistic democracy,
human rights and law supremacy by means of integration
processes, condemns holding of elections,’ Nagorno
Karabakh Foreign Minister Georgy Petrosian said when
commenting on Vuk Jeremic’s statement on forthcoming
presidential elections in the NKR. `They cast doubt on
the election institute itself as an important element
of democracy, which contradicts the CoE Charter. If
the European officials don’t want to contribute to the
democratic processes in the NKR then we have the right
to expect that they, at least, won’t impede
strengthening of democratic institutes in our
republic. We are deeply convinced that democratization
is an important precondition for the Karabakh conflict
settlement, since democracy presupposes creation of
mechanisms, which allow solving any conflict
exclusively in a peaceful way. This is the goal of the
Nagorno Karabakh Republic. It would be natural if
representatives of various European structures shared
this aspiration, the NKR MFA press office reports.

Recently, President of the CoE Committee of Ministers,
Foreign Minister of Serbia Vuk Jeremic has stated that
the upcoming elections in the NKR can’t promote the
conflict settlement and will even impede the
negotiation process.

PanARMENIAN.Net

Pentagon head to discuss possible U.S. lease of Gabala
radar station
04.07.2007 14:19 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ The U.S. Secretary of Defense, Dr
Robert M. Gates will pay a visit to Azerbaijan July 9.
According to a source in the Stratfor intelligence
center, Dr Gates will arrive to discuss the
possibility of leasing Gabala radar station after
expiration of the agreement with Russia in 2012.

Russia-U.S. joint use of Gabala radar station is
unreal, experts say.

Robert Gates is also expected to discuss deployment of
transit military bases in Azerbaijan, Day.az reports.

PanARMENIAN.Net

PACE President René van der Linden arriving in Armenia today
04.07.2007 14:26 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ PACE President René van der Linden
is arriving in Armenia today. `This is an important
region for the Council of Europe, and my main aim in
returning here is to see how we can do more to solve
the frozen conflicts in the countries concerned. Only
this will enable the peaceful development of the
region in the interest of all its peoples,’ he said on
the eve of his visit to Armenia, Georgia and
Azerbaijan. As well as the role of parliamentary
diplomacy in solving conflicts, Mr René van der Linden
intends to raise the rights of the opposition, freedom
of expression, the role of civil society,
intercultural and inter-religious dialogue, relations
with neighboring countries, and the building of one
Europe without dividing lines, CoE communication unit
reports.

He will be in Armenia on 4-5 July, Georgia on 5-7 July
and Azerbaijan on 8-10 July. In South Caucasian
countries he is due to meet the Presidents and leading
members of the parliament and government in all three
countries, as well as, among others, the leaders of
different political forces, representatives of civil
society and the media, and religious leaders.

From: Emil Lazarian | Ararat NewsPress

PanARMENIAN.Net

Stratfor: expectations of renewed fight between
Armenia and Azerbaijan rising
04.07.2007 15:21 GMT+04:00

/PanARMENIAN.Net/ Expectations of a renewed fight
between Armenia and Azerbaijan over the Nagorno
Karabakh region are rising, since Azerbaijan has
started using the huge windfall of cash from its new
pipeline to quintuple its defense budget. This time,
the conflict could serve as a spark for the larger
struggle between the United States and Russia, said
the experts of Stratfor intelligence center.

The conflict between Armenia and its neighbor
Azerbaijan over the disputed Nagorno Karabakh region
has crescendoed in recent months, since Azerbaijan has
started seeing the enormous cash windfall from its new
pipeline and Armenia has scrambled to secure a
protective Russian presence within its borders. But
the conflict between Azerbaijan and Armenia is about
more than the two states and their disputed territory;
the United States and Russia are using that conflict
as a foothold to strengthen their positions in the
region as they try to expel each other, the experts
say.

Armenia and Azerbaijan have long been deadlocked over
the small sliver of land between the two states,
though the conflict has been relatively dormant since
the 1994 cease-fire. Technically, Nagorno-Karabakh is
within Azeri territory, though it is controlled by
Armenia. International pressure, lack of support from
every nation but Russia and Iran, and fear of Azeri
retaliation have kept Armenia from annexing the
territory. Azerbaijan has been held back from retaking
the land due to international pressure and the Azeri
military’s relative weakness. Russia has maintained a
shaky and controversial balance by supporting both
sides.

However, Azerbaijan began to see the possibility of
change in 2006 with the completion of its
Baku-Tbilisi-Ceyhan (BTC) oil pipeline, which Western
companies developed to feed oil to Europe. Azerbaijan
not only became increasingly pro-Western, but it also
saw tremendous new income. Azerbaijan’s president has
already decided how he wants to spend his country’s
newfound wealth: on defense. In 2004, Azerbaijan’s
defense spending was approximately $175 million, but
by the beginning of 2008, the country will begin
spending at least $1 billion on defense. Armenia
recently increased its defense spending by 20 percent
— from $125 million to $150 million, which obviously
pales in comparison to Azerbaijan’s increase.
Azerbaijan’s spending will go mostly toward air
offensive capabilities, with Armenia’s going to air
defense, though both now are looking to expand their
ground capabilities.

Armenia simply lacks the influx of energy income that
Azerbaijan has. The enormous Armenian diaspora inside
the United States has ensured that Armenia is one of
the largest recipients of U.S. foreign aid, but
Armenia’s neighbors — Azerbaijan, Georgia and Turkey
— have shunned it economically and politically,
leaving it with little opportunity for trade or
expansion. The one neighbor Armenia has an open
relationship with is Iran. In March, Iran and Armenia
opened the Iran-Armenia natural gas pipeline; Iran
ships natural gas north and Armenia converts the
natural gas to electricity to export back south to
Iran. The pipeline itself is owned by Russia, as is
much of Armenia’s energy infrastructure, the experts
note, reports.